Thursday's letters: Ugly language

Published: Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 9:01 p.m.

To the editor: In the Jan. 8 edition of the Times-News, John Coulter wrote a letter saying the left promotes hate speech. I guess he missed the last couple of columns written by right-leaning columnist John Fogle. I promise you, the left has not put out that kind of hateful language.

As for quoting the president and Mitt Romney, Coulter might have missed Romney saying on Aug. 14, “Take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago.” (You can Google “campaign of hate out of Chicago” for the quotation.) You won’t find a quote from the president using words like that against Romney.

I will also point out the comments of John Sununu, a Romney campaign co-chair. He called the sitting president “a lazy idiot,” said he had “no class” and said he “should learn to be American.” Romney never denounced this ugly language.

But here’s my question: Why does the right have this need to keep refighting a battle that ended with the election more than two months ago? All of Mr. Coulter’s quotes are from way in the past. I just don’t get it. Why can’t they move on to constructive dialogue about the future?

Gayle Wayne

Hendersonville

Inappropriate

To the editor: I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I suggest that you should, also. The letters to the editor and the opinion columns provide a forum for thoughtful opinions. Some provoke, some inspire, some challenge, some blather. Readers should be able to tolerate all of those.

But there must be a responsibility on the part of the paper not to publish the ignorant or the bigoted. When one writes “Democrats are meaner” or “Republicans are more stupid,” please discard the letter; it is useless toward thoughtful discourse or consideration. When one writes that a candidate is “a good Christian man” or “a smart black man,” please discard the letter; it implies prejudice that the public forum should not abide.

I do not ask for your censorship of opinions; rather, I suggest that there should be some ombudsman who tosses out the obviously inappropriate that are based on intolerance of ignorance and bigotry. Our newspaper prints way too many phrases, sentences and letters that I have never seen published in any other respectable newspaper. It diminishes the newspaper and, worse, the community.

<p>To the editor: In the Jan. 8 edition of the Times-News, John Coulter wrote a letter saying the left promotes hate speech. I guess he missed the last couple of columns written by right-leaning columnist John Fogle. I promise you, the left has not put out that kind of hateful language.</p><p>As for quoting the president and Mitt Romney, Coulter might have missed Romney saying on Aug. 14, Take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago. (You can Google campaign of hate out of Chicago for the quotation.) You won’t find a quote from the president using words like that against Romney.</p><p>I will also point out the comments of John Sununu, a Romney campaign co-chair. He called the sitting president a lazy idiot, said he had no class and said he should learn to be American. Romney never denounced this ugly language.</p><p>But here’s my question: Why does the right have this need to keep refighting a battle that ended with the election more than two months ago? All of Mr. Coulter’s quotes are from way in the past. I just don’t get it. Why can’t they move on to constructive dialogue about the future?</p><p><em>Gayle Wayne</em></p><p><em>Hendersonville</em></p><h3>Inappropriate</h3>
<p>To the editor: I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I suggest that you should, also. The letters to the editor and the opinion columns provide a forum for thoughtful opinions. Some provoke, some inspire, some challenge, some blather. Readers should be able to tolerate all of those.</p><p>But there must be a responsibility on the part of the paper not to publish the ignorant or the bigoted. When one writes Democrats are meaner or Republicans are more stupid, please discard the letter; it is useless toward thoughtful discourse or consideration. When one writes that a candidate is a good Christian man or a smart black man, please discard the letter; it implies prejudice that the public forum should not abide.</p><p>I do not ask for your censorship of opinions; rather, I suggest that there should be some ombudsman who tosses out the obviously inappropriate that are based on intolerance of ignorance and bigotry. Our newspaper prints way too many phrases, sentences and letters that I have never seen published in any other respectable newspaper. It diminishes the newspaper and, worse, the community.</p><p><em>Gayle Covey</em></p><p><em>Hendersonville</em></p>